President Presents Krishi Karman Awards to States, Farmers for Outstanding Performance in 2011-12

Shri Pawar Reiterates Resolve to Achieve 4% Farm Growth in 12th Plan

            President, Shri  Pranab Mukherjee  on 15.1.13 presented Krishi Karman Awards to eight States for their achievements in foodgrains production in 2011-12. Ten States were given commendation awards.

   Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Manipur and Nagaland received the awards for special contribution to total foodgrains production.  Bihar received the award for contribution to production and productivity of rice, Haryana for wheat, Jharkhand for pulses and Uttar Pradesh for coarse cereals. Punjab, Uttarakhand, Assam, West Bengal, Tripura, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram and Himachal Pradesh received commendation awards. 

The awards were received by Chief Ministers of Madhya Pradesh, Haryana and Manipur and Agriculture Ministers/ Agriculture Secretaries of other States.

            For the first time one female and one male farmer from the eight award winning States were also given awards for their outstanding performance.

            Congratulating the award winning States and farmers, President highlighted the challenges faced by the agriculture sector, and expressed the hope that the strategies adopted in the recent past and new technologies would further strengthen this sector.

            Speaking on the occasion, Agriculture and Food Processing Industries Minister Shri Sharad Pawar said: “There are two significant developments in production of foodgrains in the country in 2011-12.  One, there is broadening of the food production basket, with as many as 18 States qualifying for awards with record production in the year.  Second, there is a definite shift in production base with inclusion of hitherto low productivity States like Madhra Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and Nagaland in the award winners list ahead of many better known names in foodgrains production.  Krishi Karman Awards are serving their purpose in letter and in spirit by highlighting the good work in relatively unsung places.”

Shri Sharad Pawar also reiterated the government’s resolve to achieve 4% agricultural growth in the 12^th Five Year Plan.  Explaining the government’s strategy he said: “While primary responsibility of agriculture development is of the State Government, we would fully back their efforts through financial and programmatic support.  We would pursue our strategy of diversifying the food production base with special efforts in the Eastern parts of the country and to develop agriculture as appropriate in respective agro ecological regions.  Sufficient scope still exists to further increase foodgrains production, as huge yield gaps still persist and there is regional imbalance in agriculture development in the country and within States.  We are poised to move ahead with more innovative approaches to reach out to farmers with better technologies and reformed policy measures.  There is no reason why we can’t maintain and improve on current levels of production of foodgrains.”

Background

Krishi Karman Awards were instituted in 2010-11 for recognizing the meritorious efforts of States in foodgrain production. The awards announced now - for 2011-12 - will be presented by the President tomorrow to Chief Ministers or Agriculture Ministers of these States.

The awards are given to best performing States in two broad sets, one for the total foodgrain production and the other for individual foodgrain crops of rice, wheat, pulses and coarse cereals. States for total foodgrains category are further divided into three categories based on total foodgrain production capacity of the State.

Award winning States get a trophy, a citation and cash award. The cash award is Rs. 2 crores for total foodgrain production and Rs. 1 crore for each of the four individual crops. Commendation award winners get a cash prize of Rs. 25 lakh. Individual farmers get Rs. one lakh besides a trophy and citation.

A selection committee headed by Secretary (Agriculture and Cooperation) assessed the performance of States against criteria that took into account production outcomes, implementation of crop production programs and innovative approaches adopted for effective service delivery.

Details of the performance of award winning States in 2011-12 over the best in the previous five years are given below:

	State	Production (Lakh Tonnes)					Productivity (Kg/ha)
		Previous Highest in last Five years	2011-12			% increase	Previous Highest In last Five years	2011-12	% increase
Total Food grains Category-I (production over 10MT)
	Madhya Pradesh	160.16 (2009-10)	190.46	18.91			1285 (2009-10)	1411		9.81
2.	Punjab	278.66 (2010-11)	283.52	1.74			4280 (2010-11)	4339		1.37
3.	Rajasthan	188.32 (2010-11)	189.63	0.70			1263 (2008-09)	1316		4.19
Total Food grains Category-II (production between 1 and 10 MT)
	Tamil Nadu	82.63 (2006-07)	96.41	16.67			2610 (2006-07)	2687		2.96
	Gujarat	83.42 (2010-11)	90.66	8.68			1843 (2010-11)	1961		6.38
	Uttarakhand	18.16 (2010-11)	18.53	2.06			1841 (2010-11)	1942		5.50
Total Food grains Category-III (production below 1 MT)
	Manipur	4.22 (2007-08)	5.93	40.52			2297 (2007-08)	2244		(-) 2.31
	Nagaland	5.14 (2008-09)	5.68	10.52			1811 (2008-09)	1902		5.02
	Arunachal Pradesh	3.09 (2009-10)	3.34	8.02			1555 (2009-10)	1663		6.95
	Tripura	6.479 (2009-10)	7.124	9.96			2563 (2007-08)	2587		0.94
	Mizoram	0.624 (2009-10)	0.668	7.05			1047 (2009-10)	1246		19.01
Rice
	Bihar	55.9 (2008-09)	72.01	28.81			1599 (2008-09)	2158		34.95
Wheat
	Haryana	116.30 (2010-11)	126.84	9.07			4624 (2010-11)	5030		8.77
	Himachal Pradesh	5.473 (2008-09)	5.958	8.86			1530 (2010-11)	1671		9.23
Pulses
	Jharkhand	3.296 (2010-11)	4.923		49.34		773 (2010-11)	914		18.17
	Assam	0.701 (2010-11)	1.08		54.06		567 (2008-09)	574		1.18
	West Bengal	1.761 (2010-11)	1.878		6.63		898 (2010-11)	911		1.50
Coarse Cereals
	Uttar Pradesh	32.18 (2010-11)	35.49		10.30		1561 (2010-11)	1747		11.90

IIMC to Strive to Become “Golden Mean for Journalism and Journalistic Training”
Self Regulation Best way Forward : Manish Tewari 45th Convocation of IIMC Held

Minister for Information & Broadcasting Shri Manish Tewari has said that while self-regulation was the best way forward, as a process it had to broad based and balanced. In view of the changes taking place in the media space, it had to grow within the overarching statutory architecture existing in the country. This issue would occupy the centre-stage of discussion and the national discourse would have to introspect on the critical issues from time to time. The Minister stated this while delivering the Convocation address at the 45th Convocation Ceremony of the Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC) here today.

Elaborating further, Shri Tewari said that the media landscape had undergone a strategic shift in the manner in which information was now disseminated through different tools including the new media. The change was also visible in the manner in which the information was absorbed by the recipients through technology enabled tools. The challenge before young aspiring journalists especially those who were entering in the professional media domain was to innovate and incubate ideas so as to match the contemporary trends. In view of the growth potential of the media and entertainment sector, the Minister called upon the graduating students to harness the skills of being potential entrepreneurs also. This aspirational move would enable young minds to look beyond the traditional career growth paths and tap the growth potential of this sector.

Referring to IIMC, Shri Tewari, said that while the Government was in the process of finalizing a proposal to grant the status of “Institute of National Importance” to IIMC with Degree granting powers, IIMC had to strive to become “the Golden Mean for Journalism and Journalistic Training”. This would not only enhance its potential but carve out a niche within the professional bodies and Institutions across the world. He called upon the Institute to reach out to the Alumni of the Institute to realize this vision.

Shri Tewari also called upon the graduating students to be aware of the key attributes that determined the frontiers of new era of journalism. He referred to the magnitude of media space, the technological changes taking place, the role and relevance of ethics in the functioning of media, individual role of young aspiring journalists and the debate regarding the need and necessity of self-regulation. 286 students were conferred with the Diploma at the Convocation today for courses offered in Journalism, Advertising and Public Relations at the four centres of the Institute i.e. New Delhi, Dhenkanal, Aizawl and Amravati.